Joe Manganiello Denies Sofia Vergara’s Claim They Split Due to Kids: ‘Simply Not True’

Joe Manganiello is setting the record straight about the reason behind his split from ex-wife Sofía Vergara .

In January, Vergara, 52, told Spanish newspaper El País that her marriage “broke up because my husband was younger.” She added, “He wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom.” (Vergara shares son Manolo, 32, with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez .)

Now, Manganiello, 47, is denying her claims in a new interview with Men’s Journal , calling them “simply not true.”

“There's been a lot said in the press about me wanting a family,” Manganiello said in the Tuesday, July 16, interview when asked what he could’ve told himself before fame about the “funny process” of Hollywood.

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“We did try to have a family for the first year and a half,” Manganiello explained. “And we had a huge conversation right out of the gate during the first month we dated. I said, ‘If you're done with kids, then I understand. Just tell me, and I'll know what this is, and that's OK.’ But that wasn't the case with her. And I swore to her that I would never leave if it didn't work out. And I didn't.”

Manganiello admitted that he did want to have kids but that “wasn't inevitably why everything ended. It's because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens.”

Manganiello continued, “To be painted as if I had some sort of midlife crisis, and after nine years, turned to somebody and gave them an ultimatum of, ‘Do this potentially unhealthy thing to your body, or else I'm gone? That’s never who I was.”

Us Weekly confirmed in July 2023 that Manganiello filed for divorce from Vergara after seven years of marriage. Days before Manganiello filed paperwork, the pair released a joint statement.

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“We’ve made the difficult decision to divorce,” the statement read. “As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”

At the time, a source exclusively told Us that the former couple weren’t “on the same page” about their romance. “She would rather go out with friends and he would rather stay home, so they wouldn’t spend a lot of time together,” the insider said. “They’ve been living separate lives for about a year now, so it was time to call things off.”

Months later, Manganiello and Vergara settled their divorce . Per court docs obtained by Us in April, a judge signed off on the proceedings.

Since their split, Manganiello has been linked to Caitlin O’Connor . Vergara, for her part, made her romance with Dr. Justin Saliman Instagram official in April.